


Decision

by ToxicTraitor



Series: Use Somebody [16]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:17:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7066738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicTraitor/pseuds/ToxicTraitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shun is faced with the hardest decision of his life while Yuuya unravels faster and faster as time ticks by.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decision

**Author's Note:**

> This took a long time, I'm sorry.

Serena looked so soft in her sleep.  To Shun, she looked almost like a baby.  Maybe this is what Ruri would have looked like if the war had never happened.  Unlike Ruri, Serena had fresh air, somewhere safe to sleep and plenty to eat.

            Shun ran his fingers over the back of Serena’s hand.  He hoped he could somehow wake her up from her medically induced sleep.  He couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried; he knew he couldn’t wake her.  He would just have to wait for her to wake up on her own.

            He stood to leave.  Being in the infirmary was making him feel sick.  He couldn’t stand the smell of bleach and he certainly couldn’t stand to sit there and look into Serena’s face any longer.

            “Shun,” Rin called, concern coloring her tone, “Where are you going?”

            “I need some fresh air,” Shun lied.  He had no idea where he was going.  There was nowhere to go to.

            “Do you want me to follow you?” Rin asked, standing from her chair and brushing the wrinkles from her skirt.

            Shun shook his head, “I’ll be fine,”

            “Alright,” Rin sighed.  She waited for Shun to leave before she turned her attention to Yuzu. 

            Rin glanced around quickly as if she were afraid that they were being watched.  She closed the curtains around them and leaned in closer to Yuzu so she could whisper into her ear.

            “Yuzu,” she began, “Do you know the tale of the four kingdoms?”

            Yuzu shook her head.  She had heard Yuuya mention it once or twice when they were young but Yuuya had never told her the story.

            “Do you believe in reincarnation?” Rin asked.  When Yuzu shook her head, Rin laughed, “I know, it sounds silly but it’s real.  You and I are reincarnations of very brave warriors.  Serena and Ruri are too,”

            Yuzu wasn’t sure whether she should laugh or not.  The whole idea sounded ridiculous.  It sounded impossible.  Then again, everything that she had just learned about had sounded impossible. 

            Weeks ago, Yuzu had thought only one dimension had existed.  She didn’t know that it was possible for her to have counterparts in each dimension.  Yet, here she was, in the Fusion Dimension and talking to a girl with a face so similar to her own.

            Rin sighed sadly, “It’s a long story but it ends with us merging our souls into one,”

            Like Yuuya and Yuuto?  Had their souls merged?  Was that what had happened?  Yuzu blinked, shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts.

            “We merged our souls, you, Serena, Ruri and I.  We merged our souls to stop the cruel kings from destroying our homes,”

            “Cruel kings?” Yuzu echoed, “Who were they?”

            Sadness filled Rin’s eyes and she lowered her head.  The thought of having to slay Yuugo, her best friend, hurt worse than any pain Rin could ever imagine.  She didn’t want to hurt Yuugo but if she had to, she would.  After all, Yuugo would want her to stop him, right?

            It only took Yuzu a second to understand the pain in Rin’s eyes, “No,” Yuzu mumbled, “I can’t hurt Yuuya.  There must be a mistake,”

            “He was one of the kings, Yuzu.  We have to stop him before it’s too late,”

            Yuzu shook her head.  She wouldn’t -couldn’t- hurt Yuuya.  She much rather die than hurt her best friend.

            “If we don’t stop him, then all four dimensions will fall into chaos.  We can’t let him do that,”

            “He means too much to me,” Yuzu murmured quietly, “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t hurt him,”

            “I’m sorry,” Rin murmured, “None of us want to, but we have to do what is right even if it means making sacrifices,”

            The word rings in Yuzu’s head.  Sacrifices… so many had already been made… how many more until fate was finally sated?  If she sacrificed herself… would that finally be enough?

           

 

Yuuya wasn’t sure where he was going anymore, as if he had ever been sure in the first place.  Academia was too big and it was so hard to see where he was going when he had to stay hidden in the shadows.

            Ruri’s words still sang through his head.  He wasn’t sure how much longer he had until he snapped.  How much longer would it take, how much more could he take, before he became what he feared the most?

            Yuuya stopped in his tracks when he came face to face with golden eyes hiding in the shadows.  They stare down at him, anger and distrust fading into shock then warmth.

            “Shun,” Yuuya murmured into the dark, “Is that really you?”

            Shun squinted back at Yuuya, “How did you get here?” he asked, running his hands over Yuuya’s shoulders and down his hips to check for any damage, “Did Akaba send you here?”

            “No, he was having problems with the system so I found another way here.  Are you okay?”

            Shun ignored Yuuya’s question, “Another way?  Did Dennis…?”

            Yuuya nodded, “He didn’t hurt me or anything.  Have you seen your sister or Yuzu?  What happened to Serena?”

            “Yuzu is okay but Serena is in the infirmary and Ruri… Ruri has changed.  Akaba Leo got into her head or something.  Now she calls him her father and she isn’t even my real sister,” Shun’s voice broke at the end, “She’s not even my real sister.  She’s Reiji’s sister.  The Akaba’s have taken everything from me, even my sister,”

            “I met her,” Yuuya said quietly, “Ruri,”

            “You did?”

            “She… She…” Yuuya stopped, swallowing back his words.  He couldn’t tell Shun, he promised Ruri that he wouldn’t.

            So instead, Yuuya kissed him.  He wanted to let go, even if for only a moment.  He wanted to forget his worries just for a few seconds.  Shun was here and so close.  Yuuya couldn’t stand the idea of passing up another opportunity to kiss him.

            Shun kissed Yuuya back, hungry for more than just a kiss.  The stress of everything around him was becoming too much and Yuuya was a welcome release from all of that.  The tension in Shun’s muscles instantly began to melt away in the heat of Yuuya’s kiss and under the heat of Yuuya’s hands.

            Yuuya could feel the mood in the room suddenly change.  It was like all the warmth had dissipated, leaving behind a cold chill to creep down his spine.  It wasn’t Shun’s fault; in fact, Shun hadn’t even noticed the change.

            Yuuya pushed Shun away, as gently as he could.  Shun took a step back, responding quickly to Yuuya’s silent ‘no’.  He learnt long ago when to respect when someone had changed their mind about kissing you.  If Yuuya wanted to stop, then he would stop.

            Yuuya’s head ached.  It felt like a hammer was trying to crack his skull open from the inside.  He swayed a little, causing Shun to prop him back up before he could fall.

            “Yuuya?” Shun asked, worry creeping into his tone.

            “I’m a monster aren’t I?” Yuuya wondered aloud, “That’s what Ruri was trying to tell me.  I’m a monster,”

            “What are you talking about?” Shun demanded.

            Yuuya explained as best he could with his head aching the way it did.  He watched Shun’s face as it fell from worry into shock and then into anger.  He turned away before Yuuya could even finish telling him the whole story of what Ruri had told him.

 

It wasn’t hard for Shun to track Ruri down.  She was in the small dorm room they had slept in the night before.  Shun watched Ruri’s eyes grow wide when he locked the door behind him, blocking any chance of escape for her.

            Shun tried to hold up his hand to brush the hair from his eyes but even that is too much for his shaking hands to manage.  He trembled too much to speak.  He didn’t even know what to say or where to begin. 

            I just got you back.  How could you?  I need you.  Why are you doing this?  Why did you lie to me?  Shun couldn’t pick just one.

            “You…” was the only word Shun could manage.

            Ruri lower her face to hide her gaze.  She knew why Shun was here, she could see it written all over his face.  She’d seen that look so many times before, like the time she had snuck out to watch the skilled magician play magic tricks in the park.  When she had come home, Shun was waiting for her in her room.

            She had seen this expression before, this one that was too much a mix of guilt and desperation.  There was too much worry, too much anger.  Ruri had seen this expression so many times but it had never been as broken as this.

            Shun was no longer hiding anything from her.  He always tried to hold back as much of his emotion as he could so he wouldn’t scare her.  Now was too different.  He couldn’t contain any of his emotions when his little sister had just called her own death sentence.

            “I’m sorry,” Ruri murmured quietly.  That was all she could say.  She wouldn’t change her mind no matter how much Shun cried. 

            “I’m supposed to protect you,” Shun voice broke. 

            “I know that,” Ruri said, twisting her fingers into her skirt, “I just… It’s my turn to protect you now,”

            “That’s not how it works.  I’m older; I’m the one that supposed to look after you.  It doesn’t work the other way around,”

            “What good is it if you protect me but I don’t do anything?  We’re supposed to take care of each other,” Ruri counters easily.

            “I just got you back,”

            “Then you’ve done your job,”

                “Done my job?  Do you know what I’ve done to get you back?  Do you know how many people I’ve killed?  Do you know how many people I’ve hurt?” Shun swallowed back his last few words.  He couldn’t tell her about what he’s given to Reiji and Dennis, “I promised Dad that I would take care of you, Ruri,”

            “You’ve done your job,” Ruri continued, “You protected me like you promised but I promised that I would save everyone.  If I don’t stop this, everyone will die,”

            “I don’t care about other people!” Shun yelled.  His voice shook, “All that matters to me is you, Ruri.  You’re the one that needs to live,”

            “If I don’t save everyone, then we’ll all die.  You, me, Yuuto… None of us will survive,” Ruri sniffed, “I’m trying to do as much as I can.  I don’t want any more people to get hurt.  I don’t want you to get hurt anymore,”

            “You _are_ hurting me,” Shun admitted, “I need you, Ruri.  You’re… Ever since you were born, I loved you.  I loved you and I promised myself I would protect you forever.  That’s my job as your brother,”

            “Your job isn’t to protect me,” Ruri mumbled quietly.  Her voice shook too, almost as much as Shun’s did, “You’re job is to help me.  That was always your job, even back then.  You were my soldier, you were the one that helped me in the past and I need you to do that now,”

            “How can you expect me to lead you to your own death?”

            “I’m asking you for this.  Please… It’s the last thing I will ever ask you for.  Even without your consent, I’ll still go through with it.  I’m just asking you to be there for me when I do it so I don’t have to be alone.  I’m scared… I want my big brother there to watch over me for one last time,”

            Shun stared down at Ruri through the tears in his eyes.  There’s no changing her mind, he knows that.  She has always been as stubborn as he has been.  She’s made up her mind and now it’s time for him to make up his.

            Between losing her forever and spending what little she has left together, Shun knows what his decision is.


End file.
